Solo
by CrazyClouds
Summary: Trapped in the virtual reality game turned death-trap, Kirigaya Kazuto- known as Kirito here- has only one choice: beat the game. Unfortunately, Kirito doesn't trust anyone else to do it. So, he embarks on a journey to destroy this world single-handedly. Armed with a secret, Kirito is able to stay far ahead of the front lines- several floors ahead. And hopefully, closer to the end.
1. Chapter 1

**November 6th, 2022**

 **1300 JST**

At the age of fourteen, Kirigaya Kazuto was more excited than any time he could ever remember in his short life. Just minutes ago, the official servers of the first ever VRMMORPG, Sword Art Online, had launched.

Kazuto had been waiting for the release since August of that year, when the game was announced. Being one of the lucky thousand that were chosen to play the SAO Closed Beta had done nothing to quell his anxiety. If anything, the beta simply made it worse. Just the beta was the best game Kazuto had ever played, and he played a lot of games. Kazuto followed simple logic; the finished game is usually better than the beta, therefore, if the beta of SAO was better than anything else, then the finished game must be something made by the gods.

Well, one god in particular. Kayaba Akihiko, the development director of Sword Art Online, as well as the developer of the NerveGear; a helmet-like object in appearance, which would allow players to access the realm of virtual reality by means of " _Diving_ ".

Kazuto was completely ready for his _Dive_. His NerveGear was plugged in and completely booted up. He had already eaten, showered, and used the restroom. There were a few water bottles on the nightstand next to his bed, accompanied by a few small bags of chips and other snacks. Kazuto also told his parents and younger sister to try to refrain from disturbing him. He was completely set for a full night of _Diving_ , with a scheduled break every three hours to freshen up.

Laying down, Kazuto found he was completely filled with energy, and his hands even shook as he lifted the NerveGear to put over his head. Sliding it on slowly, as if the helmet was some type of ancient, frail artifact, Kazuto pressed the power button on the right-hand side of the Gear, which rested underneath a trio of blinking lights. Allowing the Gear a few moments to get itself situated, Kazuto finally laid down to rest his head on his pillow.

"Link Start!"

* * *

A tunnel of colors passed by Kazuto, as he neared the familiar log-in UI. Quickly belting out his username, Kirito (The _Kiri-_ from his family name, and _-to_ from his given name), and his password, Kazugaya (An amalgamation of the remaining syllables), Kazuto was greeted by a "Welcome Back" Screen.

" _Welcome Back to Sword Art Online, Kirito. Would you like to load your custom character from the Beta?"_

Selecting _Yes_ , Kazuto was quickly sucked through another seizure-inducing tunnel, before being deposited in the middle of a crowded town square.

The Town Of Beginnings. Breathing in the fresh digital air, which was stimulated quite magnificently by the NerveGear, Kirito let out a loud exhale followed by the brightest smile he had worn in a while.

Turning on his heel, Kirito sprinted away from the town square, intent on finding the quest which granted the best sword on this floor before doing anything else.

The Anneal Blade was coveted by early-level Beta players once the first person had found it, for the sole fact that the blade had a enhance max of 8, which meant the sword could be upgraded 8 times with a combination of sharpness, heaviness, durability, quickness, and accuracy. Kirito never wasted upgrade slots on heaviness and accuracy, because a lighter sword meant a faster sword, which also ruled out excessive use of the quickness upgrade. At most, he would do maybe 2 quickness enhances; the rest would be a balance between sharpness and durability.

With the help of his Beta knowledge, Kirito also knew that the Anneal Blade would probably be the best sword for the next two or three floors, since no other early sword had that many enhance levels. Allocating the beginning 5 stat points into agility, Kirito began sprinting as one could only in a video game; that is, without tiring. Thankfully, stamina seemed non-existent in this game, the only limitation being how much mental stress you could handle, as that was what all the signals sent by the NerveGear translated into.

On the way to the village of Horunka, which is where the quest was located, Kirito ran through a couple of boars, just for a bit of extra exp. He was slightly surprised at the large amount of exp he had gathered after killing about ten of the boars; his exp bar was filled to an astonishing 60%! Kirito remembered the final days of the Beta, back when he was level 30, and it took countless hours to get that much exp. Hopefully, now that he knew some pretty good grinding spots, he could rush through the lower levels.

Deciding to go all the way, Kirito killed another handful of boars, then put all 5 of the level-up stat points into agility as well, bringing it up to 12 total, due to the base stat of 1 plus the level up bonus of 1 and the 10 points. The Enhanced Anneal Blade would balance out the lack of Strength, and the perks of the One-Handed Sword skill tree would compensate for the rest of the game. If Kirito decided to pour the majority of his points into strength, he would need to use a rapier to make up for the lack of agility. Speed was definitely the more useful stat to use his points on, as every hit would bring him that much closer to death, and being able to dodge those hits would proved invaluable if he didn't want to get setback too much.

With an agility level of 12, Kirito's strides brought him that much closer to his goal, and within ten minutes, the gamer stood outside the hut which housed the quest-giver. Foregoing knocking, as no one would have answered anyway, Kirito quickly navigated through the house, stopping in the kitchen where the NPC was.

"Hello." Kirito said blandly, only greeting the NPC to start up the pre-programmed dialogue.

"Oh, hello, traveler! Please sit, you must be tired after travelling this far."

Taking a seat, the NPC placed a bowl of stew in front of the teen, which he ignored.

"Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Well, my daughter is rather sick, and only an herb found deep in the forest can help her… I can reward you handsomely!" The NPC left the kitchen, returning within seconds, clutching a sword in her hands.

"This is the Anneal Blade, a family heirloom passed down through the generations. We don't need it anymore, since nobody is around to use it… Would you please help my daughter?"

A screen popped into existence in front of Kirito.

 _New quest available! Help the villager's daughter?_

 _Reward: 100XP, Anneal Blade_

Tapping the circle which indicated 'yes', Kirito stood from the table, and began to make his way out of the small hut.

"The medicine is held by creatures called…"

The NPC's voice trailed off as Kirito continued on his way, but that didn't matter. The boy already knew what he had to do; kill a bunch of animated plants called Little Nepenthes. One of the mobs would have a flower atop its head, and that one was guaranteed to drop the required item, a _Little Nepenthes' Ovule_. Since a Nepenthes with a flower was a rare spawn, Kirito would need to kill several of the mobs to reset the spawns and force one to appear.

Plus, at level 2, killing a bunch of level 3 monsters would give him a considerable amount of exp.

Delving deep into the forest, Kirito came across the first of the Nepenthes. Standing at a meter and a half tall, the monster was a sickly green color, crawling around with root legs and vine arms. It's head was grossly oversized, and a large mouth was situated on it. A strange red liquid was flowing from the mouth of the Nepenthes, dripping down the obscenely large tongue that was also stuck out.

Deciding he didn't want to look at the ugly thing any longer, Kirito lashed out with his sword, far quicker than the monster could react to due to his 12 agility, and struck the mob's critical point; it's tongue. The Nepenthes' health was instantly reduced to less than half, which the gamer quickly remedied with another critical strike, causing the plant to explode into a thousand rainbow polygons. Dismissing the summary of gains, Kirito went back on the hunt.

* * *

The hours ticked by, with little success for Kirito. None of the Nepenthes he had killed, which numbered in the hundreds, had spawned with the sought after flower.

Speaking of which, one had just spawned! Along with… a fruit-bearing Nepenthes. That was bad news. Should the fruit be damaged at all, it would release a cloud of gas which attracted hordes of Nepenthes, who would all then attack the player.

Kirito had leveled up three more times, now sitting at level 5. He quickly dumped 5 of his 15 free stat points in strength, then slashed the tongue of a nearby Nepenthes. As expected, it shattered in one-hit, causing Kirito to smirk. His total strength was now 10, due to the +1 to each stat from levelling up, then poured the remaining 10 points in agility, bringing it up to a comfortable 25.

Throwing caution to the wind, Kirito dashed towards the fruit-bearing Nepenthes, and activated the Sword Skill _Vertical_ , to slash through the fruit, head, and tongue of the Nepenthes. Quickly spinning around, Kirito also activated a _Horizontal_ to clear out the few Nepenthes which attempted to ensnare him with their vines, one of which was the flower-bearing Nepenthes he came for. The surrounding area was clear, but Kirito knew it was only a matter of time before the hordes showed up.

He was right. It took less than a minute before numerous monsters began crawling out the woodworks and speeding right towards him. With a grin, the gamer rushed forwards to meet them halfway, swinging his sword with precision, aiming for the Nepenthes' hanging tongues. Kirito was refraining from using sword skills due to the cooldown time that came from it. Even if the cooldown for the basic skills, like _Vertical_ and _Horizontal_ , was measured in milliseconds, that was all the time a mob needed to get a hit. If one mob got a good hit off, he would end up stumbling, allowing the other mobs to chain attacks, eventually ending with his death. So, Kirito decided not to give the monsters the opportunity, and stuck to the basic slash-and-hack approach.

It took at least ten minutes for the monsters to stop appearing, and Kirito's head was starting to throb a bit. He could log out for a half-hour and relax a bit, but he was _so_ close to completing the quest. He could log out _after_ getting the Anneal Blade.

The drops menu showed a sizeable amount of Cor, the currency of SAO, a bunch of herbs which could be later crafted into healing items, and the _Little Nepenthes' Ovule_. Letting out a whoop of excitement, Kirito turned on his heel and ran back the ten minutes, now eight, it took to get to the Nepenthes spawn area.

Once there, he quickly handed over the _Ovule_ , and was rewarded with the Anneal Blade. Relishing in the old yet familiar weight, he hugged the blade, thankful that nobody was watching him at the moment.

Switching the Beginner Sword with the Anneal Blade, Kirito finally decided to call it quits for… maybe an hour. Opening up his menu with a downward swipe of his left hand, Kirito noticed the time; 0100 hours, 15 hours after he first logged in. Grimacing, Kirito mentally prepared himself for the inevitable rush to the bathroom, and manipulated the menu to access the logout button.

There was an issue, though; the logout button was greyed out.

* * *

Kirito spent the next few minutes losing his mind, before calming down slightly.

"I can just contact a GM-they'll know what to do… right!?"

Rattling out a quick message to the admins, Kirito decided to make his way back to the Town of Beginnings, where most of the players probably were, to find out if anyone else was having this issue. Considering his more than doubled agility stat, it took only a few minutes to sprint full tilt back to the Town. He made an effort to go faster at the price of some mental fatigue, because he really wanted to get out of here before his unconscious body shat itself or something.

The first person he met on his way to the town square was a male with roguish looks; long red hair, a multi colored bandana, and a good amount of not-quite-stubble which seemed to be on the way to being a proper goatee. The player was dressed in the beginner gear. Anything else would have been surprising.

"Hey, excuse me!" Kirito called out.

The red-haired man looked away from the NPC merchant he was speaking to, before pointing to himself questioningly.

"Yeah, you. Sorry to interrupt, I'm Kirito." The gamer stuck his hand out, and it was shook by the other male.

"Klein, and it's fine. I was just selling some loot before logging out. You alright, man?"

"No, not really. Speaking of logging out, can you check if the button works?"

Klein looked at him quizzically, as if Kirito had asked him what color his hair was. Deciding to humor the young man, Klein swiped open the game menu, opened the options tab, and scrolled down to the logout button… which was greyed out.

Tapping it a few times, Klein realized that the button really was broken.

"Um, wow. Talk about a disaster. The mods are gonna get so much shit for something like this, it's not even funny… not to mention I've got a pizza on the way! No!" Smashing his balled-up fist against the button uselessly, Klein sank to his knees and let out an ominous moan.

Kirito laid a hand on the man's shoulder, patting it a few times in a consoling manner.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much. I already messaged the admins, and I'm sure a bunch more people have, too. They'll have us out of here eventually."

Klein seemed a bit too caught up in his despair to really notice Kirito's condolences, and let out another groan, curling up on the ground in fetal position.

Kirito was very amused, but got bored after a couple seconds. He kicked Klein right in the balls, eliciting a shout from the other player.

"Hey! What gives!?"

"Relax. You didn't feel any pain, did you?"

Klein seemed confused, sitting up properly, then looking at his crotch, as if unsure that Kirito was telling the truth.

"Huh, weird."

"Not really. Think about it; if someone were to be crushed to death in this game, and the NerveGear were to stimulate that, they would probably suffer from some type of trauma, giving them grounds to sue Kayaba Akihiko."

"...Right. Can I just say that I'm slightly weirded out by the fact that you thought of something like that?"

"No, because I didn't. It was in one of Kayaba's interviews."

"Oh, really? I've never watched one of those, they always looked boring."

"I made a habit out of it. There's always the chance they'll reveal something that will be useful- like this; Open your options real quick."

Following Kirito's lead, Klein navigated his player menu until he reached the desired screen.

"Sensory Stimulation? What's this? And why's it at -5?"

"Don't worry about that, just turn it up to 5."

"Why?"

"Just do it!"

"Alright, jeez! There, done. Now, will you finally tell me what- FUCK!"

Klein's last word was shouted in a pained, high-pitched squeak. Kirito had kicked him in the balls, and the Sensory Stimulation setting had perfectly recreated the pain of the real thing, thus causing Klein to be curled up in a ball on the ground, trying not to sob.

"Wh-Why?" Klein moaned.

"Because it was fun."

"No, it was not! Let me do it to you, then tell me how fun it is!"

"No."

"Coward!" Klein shouted, rising into a shaky stand, then hobbling after Kirito, shaking a fist at him, while the other hand cupped his still throbbing crotch.

Kirito laughed, and took off at a light jog, his high agility allowing him to easily keep ahead of Klein. The two continued on like this to the town square, causing a bit of a stir amongst the already present players, but not much. Their attention was held by something much more prevalent; the walls were bleeding.

It was probably not actual (or virtual, in this case) blood, but the resemblance was eerie. What was even more ominous was when the liquid converged on one spot, then vanished, leaving behind a massive, humanoid figure. It wore a large red, gold-trimmed robe, large enough to conceal any type of identifiable trait, except its long, bony hands. It spread its equally long and bony fingers out, as if commanding a large force of marionettes.

"Players, hear me. I am the creator of this world, Kayaba Akihiko."

Several gasps rang out from the crowd, surprised that such an important person would address them, especially so early in the game. They had figured he would send a message after they beat the game or something, so this turn of events was rather unexpected.

"I am sure some of you have noticed the lack of a logout button. I assure you, this was not a mistake, nor a bug, but an intentional exclusion. First off, I would like to thank you for joining me in my world, and embarking on this epic journey. I am truly honored that you would choose to spend your time here, giving my hard work purpose. Secondly, I have come to give you a gift. If you would all check your inventories right about… now, you shall see it."

The ding of opening menus could be heard throughout the square, as many curious, and very excited, players opened their inventories. A free gift from the creator of the game? It would most definitely be useful, and if not, it probably had a high monetary value. At least, that was what the players thought. They also somehow completely ignored what Kayaba had said about the logout button; most likely dismissing it as a joke or something.

Kirito, like the rest, was curious about what he had been given. Upon finding an item in his inventory which was not previously there, Kirito was very confused to find out what it was. The object was simply called _Hand Mirror_ , and true to its name, was a handheld piece of glass surrounded by a thin frame. Kirito's confusion rose to another level after turning the mirror over, and discovering it had no true purpose other than showing the player their avatar.

"Yes, it is a simple mirror, and no, it does not have any special ability. It _is_ , however, still useful. Now, if you would please observe yourselves in the mirror, carefully."

The players decided to humor the man, and peered at their reflection. Upon noticing the edges of their avatar's face shimmering, a few shifted the mirror, trying to see if it was a trick of the light, while some others reached up to touch their face. Kirito just stood there, staring, not completely understanding what was going on.

His mind screeched to a halt when his face shattered into a mass of polygons, along with everybody else's. It was not just his face, either. Their entire body gave off the same effect, and many wondered if they been suddenly killed or something.

His blood froze when, suddenly, staring back from the mirror, was his face. His _real_ face. Kirito felt his eyes widen, and watched as the reflection's did the same. Around him, he heard the default destruction sound, indicating that people had dropped their mirrors in shock. Kirito nearly did, too, but got control of himself just in time. He stowed the mirror away in his inventory, promising himself to examine it later.

Kayaba had given the players a minute to take in their 'new' appearance, before continuing on with his speech.

"You may be wondering, 'why did he reveal our true looks?' My answer is simple. This game will become your life, and how disconcerting would it be to wake up every morning and see a stranger looking at you from the mirror?"

Noticing the looks on the faces of people gathered before him, Kayaba sighed.

"I suppose I should explain what I mean by that."

Multiple screens popped into existence around the GM, showing what many amongst the crowd recognized as news outlets. Those who were closer could even read the headings of the reports… and felt fear like they never knew before.

 _Hundreds killed by forceful attempts to remove the innovation-turned-deathtrap, the NerveGear._

 _Players of new VRMMORPG Sword Art Online unable to wake up._

 _Thousands trapped by Kayaba Akihiko's invention, the NerveGear._

"I did mention earlier that the exclusion of the logout button was intentional, did I not? As you can see, you are now trapped within my world. Should you die in Aincrad, the NerveGear will emit high-powered microwaves into you, effectively frying your brain. The result will be the same should anyone outside attempt to remove the NerveGear. The only way to escape is to die, or to clear the 100th floor of Aincrad."

The town square was filled with silence for several minutes, as the players attempted to digest the magnitude of the bombshell which was just dropped on them.

Kirito was one of them, and tried to run through the information he had just been given.

Nobody could logout of SAO. Outside interference would result in death. The players now had to use their real body. The only way to escape was to beat the game. Oh, and Kayaba Akihiko was a massive prick.

Kirito absolutely refused to consider the possibility of death. He had a family waiting for him in the real world, and he wouldn't let the ravings of a single madman, even if he was a genius, keep him from them. Especially since he hadn't apologized for the way he had treated them in the past.

With a growl of frustration, Kirito turned on his heel, and sprinted out of the town square, intent on getting as far as he could from the place where his previous life ended.


	2. Chapter 2

**November 7th, 2022**

 **1548 JST**

At the age of fourteen, Kirigaya Kazuto was more desperate than any time he could ever remember in his short life. He had been trapped in this death game for less than a day, yet he could already feel panic clawing at his sanity.

If he failed here, he would never be able to apologize to Suguha for pushing her away for so long, making it seem as if he didn't care about her. This determination, along with the anxiety of being faced with death at almost all times, drove Kirito to take some desperate measures.

The boy had spent the _entire_ night leveling, not even stopping to eat or sleep. He knew that the mental fatigue could be ignored, and it wouldn't really have too much of an effect until later on. It was a strategy Kirito had employed during the Beta, in order to become that much stronger than his fellow testers. Now though, with his life on the line, Kirito didn't even entertain the thought of resting. Too much was at risk.

The teen had gotten to level 8 during his Nepenthes killing spree, then gained another three levels during his night session, now sitting at level 11. His strength was now 31, and his agility was a whopping 46. Kirito's high stats showed in the way he sliced through Dire Wolves like a hot knife through butter.

At level 8, the wolves were the strongest mobs on the first floor, just below the Ruin Kobold Sentinels and the Floor Boss, Illfang the Kobold Lord. The Sentinels were level 10 while the Boss was a monstrous 25. Luckily, Kirito knew Illfang's attack pattern like the back of his hand.

Before the Beta players had gotten the hang of the game controls and combat system, they died many times to the 1st Floor Boss, Kirito being among them. As a result, they were exposed to his dense shield, broad axe, and serrated Talwar more times than necessary.

Even if Kirito was unable to take down the boss, he could still farm the Sentinels- they respawned every 30 seconds, once all of the others died. At level 10, they made for much more rewarding opponents than the wolves.

Now, the only issue was to _find_ the Boss Room...

* * *

It had taken another day to find the Boss, which sat on top of the labyrinth dungeon which connected the 1st and 2nd floors. In hindsight, Kirito should've known that from the start, but he figured it out eventually.

The reason it took another day was because Kirito made sure to completely clear out the dungeon, gaining another level in the process due to the sheer amount of mobs, and returned to the Town of Beginnings to quickly stock up on healing potions. He would save armor and weapon upgrades for later, once he felt like acquiring all the materials. For now, he had improved his stats enough that the current weakness of the Anneal Blade didn't matter, and he was too fast for most of the monsters to even touch, let alone hit.

Kirito wasn't particularly worried about attempting to solo the first Boss, despite the fact that he could die in real life if he got too cocky. The plan was simple; get in, farm the Sentinels, avoid the Boss, and leave.

Which is why Kirito was completely unprepared for the massive Boss Room doors to close, locking him in the chamber.

Since he was not within the currently sleeping Boss' aggro-range yet, Kirito ran back to the doors and tried pulling as hard as he could, to no avail.

"Shit!" The teen muttered. He had few choices now; either fight the Boss, and probably die, or wait for the rest of the players to gather the courage to hunt the Boss, freeing him from the room. Unfortunately, Kirito remembered the haunted, terrified looks of the rest of the SAO community back in the Town of Beginnings- they wouldn't be here for a while.

Kirito could not afford to wait days, weeks, possibly months for the rest of the playerbase to overcome their fear of death and catch up. Resolving himself to focus on dodging and parrying over offense, Kirito ran at the Boss.

At about 20 meters away, Illfang opened his ruby red eyes, and placed his penetrating glare on Kirito.

The teen quickly closed the 20 meters within moments, and began slashing away, without the use of sword skills. Illfang always had a little less than 30 seconds of charge up time, in which he performed his battle-initiating roar and summoned his two Ruin Kobold Sentinels.

By the time said ritual was complete, Kirito had already demolished one of the Boss' four health bars, and then leapt back to avoid being backstabbed by the Sentinels. Illfang roared once more, then charged the player.

Kirito parried the first strike from the glowing axe, but could not capitalize on it as the Sentinels jumped in to interfere. Growling in irritation, Kirito quickly slashed off the arm of one Sentinel, and blocked a blow from another. By this time, Illfang recovered, and jumped over the Sentinels to deliver devastating damage. Kirito, who was caught in a bladelock with the Sentinel, had no choice but to take the hit. The teen was sent flying backwards, both to his relief and anxiety.

Quickly ingesting a healing potion, Kirito continued to backpedal as he waited for his health to regenerate. One Sentinel had it's arm sliced off, and could therefore no longer attack due to the two-handed requirements of the poleax. The second Sentinel had lost nothing more than a few points of HP. Both were still advancing towards the player, just barely keeping ahead of the Boss.

Kirito had to play his cards carefully. If he killed the current two Sentinels, three more would spawn- a consequence of lowering the Boss' HP by a quarter. With every health bar that vanished, an extra Sentinel would spawn, which normally wouldn't be an issue if there was a battalion of assailants. Unfortunately, this wasn't a normal battle.

If Kirito wanted to survive, he would need to incapacitate the Sentinels without killing them, all while avoiding the Kobold Lord's crushing blows. Just one had brought his health down by half- he didn't want to see if he could tank them. A daunting task, but something the gamer felt confident he could do.

* * *

Kirito regretted his arrogance greatly. Everything had gone fine, until the Boss only had 10% health left. Then, the battle went to Hell.

Illfang tossed aside his shield and axe, pulled out his nodachi- " _Where the fuck is his Talwar!?"_ \- then began leaping about the Boss Room with unmatched agility. It was impressive, as well as downright terrifying. Kirito had to block and parry attacks from all angles, all while keeping the Sentinels from knocking him over.

The Sentinels now numbered at 6. They had automatically respawned once Illfang entered the second phase, which greatly concerned Kirito. He had yet to be able to pull another disarming maneuver, busy as he was blocking all the attacks. It seemed he wouldn't be getting a chance soon, either, since the Kobold Lord had stopped bouncing around, and instead simply focused on running Kirito down.

The player had to sprint to the edge of the Boss Room, outside the Boss' aggro-range, and began to block the flurry of attacks from the Sentinels, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.

The chance came when the final Sentinel attacked was parried, and the other mobs were still recovering from stun/skill cooldown. Kirito took the opening, running his Anneal Blade through the Kobold's throat, making it shatter into polygons instantly. With a sigh of relief, Kirito dove back into battle, performing the same act until the Sentinels were all dead, noting how much easier it became everytime another monster died.

Now, with all the Ruin Kobold Sentinels dead, Kirito could finally focus on the Kobold Lord. Breathing a lot heavier than before, the teen quickly downed a healing potion to bring his health up to max. From there, he simply observed the Boss, waiting for the mental fatigue to lessen a bit.

Illfang was staring at the gamer with palpable hatred, red eyes glowing eerily despite the well-lit room. Fortunately, the Boss did not act, due to Kirito's position outside the aggro-range. The teen thanked Kami for small blessings.

Finally feeling slightly less tired, Kirito began to move in, slowly, to determine where the edge of the Boss's aggro-range was. Once he was level with the pillar closest to the door, Illfang roared once more. Taking note of the location, Kirito quickly stepped back, causing the Boss to freeze in his tracks before shuffling back to the center of the room.

Heaving another sigh of relief, Kirito tensed every virtual muscle in his leg, prepared to explode towards the Boss. With an intense amount of effort, and squeezing everything he could out of his agility stat, Kirito reached Illfang within seconds. Unfortunately, the Boss was no slouch, and was ready for their first clash.

The first swing of the Anneal Blade was blocked, and Illfang overpowered Kirito after a few seconds, sending the gamer backwards. The Boss leapt forward, bringing his Nodachi overhead to prepare for a heavy downward strike. The massive weapon glowed red, signifying the build-up of a sword skill, which Kirito wasn't going to allow. Rushing forward, he placed his sword on his shoulder, activating a Sonic Leap. Charging it for a second, he waited as the Kobold Lord swung down.

Timing it perfectly, Kirito sidestepped, and launched right up into Illfang's face, sword first. Said sword dug into the Boss's eye, taking down the remaining 10% of health to 5%.

"Dammit!" Kirito shouted, sure that such a critical hit would have ended it. Unfortunately, the Boss's extremely high natural defense said otherwise.

The Anneal Blade was still stuck in Illfang's eye, and Kirito still in midair, when the Kobold Lord recovered from his failed sword skill cooldown time, and batted the gamer away. The combination of powerful blow and the skidding landing resulted in the teen's health falling into the red immediately.

Slightly panicking at being weaponless- the sword was wrenched out his grasp- and so close to death, Kirito had his inventory open in milliseconds.

One issue, though. _He was out of health potions_.

"Fuck…" Kirito muttered. His health bar looked about equal with Illfang's remaining one, but he knew a percentage was much different from a concrete number.

' _I got cocky! What the fuck was I thinking, trying to solo a_ Boss _!?'_

Hoisting himself to his feet, Kirito quickly turned away from Illfang, and began stumbling towards the edge of the room. The Kobold Lord had to waste a few precious seconds pulling his sword out the floor, but then immediately leapt high into the air.

Kirito, hearing the monster's roar, poured on more speed in a desperate bid to live. He saw the one of the pillars which made up the ring that signified the edge of the aggro-range, and prayed to Kami that he would make it. A mere meter away from the pillars, he tripped. On his own foot.

"SHIT!"

Kirito immediately began scrambling on hands and knees, his heart beating so fast he was sure it would have exploded had this been the real world.

He heard the raging, garbled breaths behind him, and against his better sense, turned around- a decision he immediately regretted.

Illfang was looming over him, the monster's huge loincloth sitting basically in front of the teen's face. Kirito almost gagged, and thanked Kami that Kayaba Akihiko at least had the mercy to not include an advanced sense of smell, or Kirito would surely have been throwing up.

His gaze traveling up past Illfang's gargantuan gut, the gamer looked the monster right in those ruby red eyes, and shivered at the killing intent hidden behind them.

The monster slowly lifted his Nodachi up, the action causing Kirito to spur himself into action, scooting backwards on his rear end. The Nodachi glowed a bright purple, then glimmered as the sword skill finished charging- at which point, Illfang struck.

Full of adrenaline as he was, Kirito could _hear_ the massive blade whistling through the air. He kept scooting, but stopped to throw his hands over his head in an attempt to block the blow which was now barely a meter from him.

A blow which never came.

The gamer slowly opened his eyes, only to see the Nodachi suspended in the air above him. Then, it moved once more.

Luckily, the blade didn't continue it's previous path, it actually moved away from him. Confused, Kirito watched as the blade was withdrawn, and the Kobold Lord turned around to lumber back towards the room center. Glancing around, Kirito noted with immense relief that he had managed to exit the aggro-range, just barely. It was a lot closer than he would've liked.

The teen exhaled quite loudly, and simpy sat there for a few minutes, before working up the energy to drag himself a bit further from the pillars- just in case.

Now, with less than 5% health, no healing potions, and no weapon, Kirito was as good as dead. He had unfortunately sold the Beginning Sword when he restocked on health potions. The only thing that remained was to take the final hit.

Despite the futility of the situation, Kirito didn't want to die. He still had to apologize to Suguha, his mom and dad, his few friends at school- the boy had yet to even get a girlfriend, for crying out loud! He had spent far too much of his time pushing away the people close to him, when he should have been grateful for what he had.

With nothing left to lose-except his life, obviously- Kirito decided to try something risky, something he did in the Beta, but was unsure if it had been patched.

Gathering up his courage, and steadying his heartbeat, Kirito took a hesitant step forward, keeping his eyes trained on Illfang the Kobold Lord.

Another step, this time shakier. His nerves were starting to get the better of him.

Another step. He was at the edge of the ring of pillars, centimeters away from stepping into the aggro-range.

Steeling his will, Kirito broke into an all-out sprint. He vaguely heard the Kobold Lord's roar, but he ignored in favor of keeping up his speed.

In the corner of his peripheral, the gamer saw Illfang leap into the air, as the Boss tended to do,the massive gut betraying the insane agility.

But Kirito ignored it. His sights were currently on the Anneal Blade, laying on the ground after it was dislodged at some point. Focusing every bit of his mind, Kirito lowered his torso while he ran, fingers nearly grazing the ground, until he finally was close enough to snatch up the sword. Wasting no time on theatrics, Kirito sheathed the sword without breaking stride.

His new target; the massive spiral staircase, opposite the Boss Room door.

It took precious seconds to cross the remaining distance, leaving the seemingly simple task of climbing.

That notion was destroyed as Illfang landed right behind Kirito, Nodachi flashing blue, and nearly took the teen's head off. Luckily, Kirito ducked just in time, only receiving an impromptu haircut for his troubles. The Nodachi got stuck in the pillar, giving the boy a few moments to get away.

Taking the steps two at a time, an impressive feat for such tall and long stairs, the gamer ascended at an incredible rate, scarcely paying attention to anything other than the rhythm of his feet. If he tripped now, he would likely tumble off the steps, and the fall would kill him. And if it didn't, the Kobold Lord would.

Pushing away the thoughts, Kirito noticed the massive doors at the top of the stairs coming into view. Pouring on more speed, the gamer rammed into the doors with the force of a speeding car. Said doors flung wide open, and Kirito continued running, not stopping until he nearly collided with a human figure. An NPC. Kirito observed his new surroundings.

Immediately, he noted the intense difference in lighting. Here, in this apparent NPC village, the sun shone brightly, a welcome sight, whereas the Boss Room was lit by dull torches.

The houses were rather small, made of wood and straw, only 1 story tall. These houses couldn't have been large enough to have more than 3 or 4 rooms. There was one 2 story building, which also happened to be the only building with a wooden roof, indicating that it was important somehow.

NPCs were milling about, but no words were exchanged. It was eerie, but Kirito knew that all NPCs required player interaction to start speaking, regardless of how unlikely that was for some.

A few merchant carts were set up around the area, indicating that this was the town square that the gamer had stumbled upon.

Kirito flopped down on the ground, taking a moment to simply go over the previous events in his head. He had survived.

He had successfully _skipped_ the Boss fight.

* * *

 **Stats:**

 **Level-12**

 **Strength-32**

 **Agility-47**

 **Stat Points-5**

 **Weapon-Anneal Blade +0**


	3. Chapter 3

**November 9th, 2022**

 **1000 JST**

"Oh my fucking _god_!" Kirito shouted, to nobody in particular. He had just realized something quite distressing; he had five free stat points that could have given him the edge necessary to defeat Illfang the Kobold Lord. If he had just put them into strength before the battle…!

There was nothing to be done for it now, unfortunately. Well, not unless he wanted to restock and go back to fight the First Floor Boss, but now that he was on the Second Floor, there didn't seem to much of a point. The Last Attack bonus may be cool, but in a few Floors, it would become mostly irrelevant. So, he made use of the points now, putting them into strength and raising the total to 37.

Grumbling to himself in irritation, Kirito left the inn he had spent the night at, hardly acknowledging the NPCs on his way out the village of Urbus other than to avoid bumping into them. Right now, the only important NPC was the old man out in the middle of fuck-all who gave the Quest to receive the Martial Arts Skill. After he got that, Kirito would punch the ever-loving shit out of every single monster on this Floor, level up a bit, then rush to the next Floor. Stagnation was the murderer of progress, and the death of progress would lead to his own death.

* * *

"So, you come seeking the secrets of Martial Arts?"

"Yes," Kirito growled, not really in the mood to humor the AI. Luckily, NPCs were unable to pick up on that sort of thing, or this interaction might have turned sour.

"Very well. However, my teachings are not to be taken lightly. You must prove yourself worthy by breaking the large boulder outside my house, using nothing but your bare fists. After all, what use is learning Martial Arts if you are going to use a weapon?"

Ping!

 _New Quest available! Learn from the Martial Arts Master?_

 _Reward: 500XP, Extra Skill: Martial Arts  
_ Tapping the blue circle, Kirito practically sprinted out the hut, and threw himself at the massive boulder with a gold cursor above it. Channeling his rage at failing to beat Illfang, his entrapment by Kayaba Akihiko in this game, and his separation from his nearly-estranged family, Kirito began pounding away at the rock, silently thankful that the Nerve Gear didn't perfectly recreate the sensation of pain. That would have sucked.

* * *

It had been hours. The virtual sun had long since set, leaving Kirito in darkness save for the digital moon. During his monumentous task, he had shown discipline only seen in cheesy action films, where the protagonist spent years training in the mountains with monks, learning to survive only on dew and meditation. Punching with all his strength and speed for the entirety of his tenure, Kirito learned just what the results of hard work were.

Absolutely _nothing_!

The damned rock hadn't even chipped, or cracked, or been damaged in any type of way to indicate that he was making progress! More pissed off than he was when he had started, Kirito kicked the stupid boulder, then fell backwards. He could continue in the morning, since there was no time limit on this Quest besides when the player decided to quit.

Just as he made his decision to let sleep take him, Kirito heard a deep rumbling, which sharpened into a vague cracking, then transformed into the familiar shattering of tiny polygons which accompanied the destruction of any item in Sword Art Online. Shooting up into a sitting position, Kirito was greeted by an empty patch of land where his stone punching bag had been.

A shaky, demented grin stretched across Kirito's face, as he climbed to his feet in a daze. A message popped up in front of his face.

 _Congratulations! You have completed the Quest "Learn from the Martial Arts Master!"_

 _Return to the NPC to collect your reward!_

"YES!" Kirito shouted, throwing his hands in the air, and once more falling on his back. This time, however, it was out of relief rather than exhaustion. That simple notification had filled him with energy, and he knew _exactly_ what to do with it.

* * *

In hindsight, perhaps cows weren't the best way to test out his new Martial Arts Skill. Sure, it was fun to punch the walking hamburgers in their ugly noses, but it was a bit dangerous, considering how close it put him to their razor-sharp horns. He would have to wait until the next floor, when the humanoid enemies came out to play. It would be much easier to grapple with one of them than a Trembling Ox which was twice his size. He definitely wasn't trying it on a WIndwasp- those things were nasty.

Kirito reluctantly unsheathed his Anneal Blade, and set to work carving the Trembling Ox into metaphysical steak. It went much quicker, since his sword had a higher base damage, further augmented by his Level 25 One-Handed Sword Skill. With a sigh, the boy finished off the bull, making it shatter into thousands of rainbow polygons. He checked the loot; some XP, some Cor, and a Trembling Ox's meat. Probably an ingredient to be used by players with the Cooking Skill, but Kirito would just end up selling it.

Who would be crazy enough to learn the Cooking Skill when they could be grinding?

* * *

Back on the First Floor, in the Town of Beginnings, a mopey girl with chestnut-brown hair sneezed.

* * *

Hours later, when darkness once more claimed Aincrad, Kirito stood in front of the Second Floor's portion of the Labyrinth. He had been killing monsters the entire time, gaining three levels for his troubles. Ten stat points were put into agility, and the remaining five into strength, bring the total up to 60 and 45, respectively. He had also gained another five levels for his One-Handed Sword Skill. With the base damage of the Anneal Blade being 1000, adding in the damage buffs from his stats and skill, Kirito could now deal 1240 damage minimum. It didn't seem like much, but every bit helped when one was fighting for their life.

Walking into the Floor Dungeon, Kirito immediately scanned the area, looking for monsters. There were none, at the moment, but they could pop out from anywhere, sometimes even spawning right behind the player if they triggered a trap. Speaking of traps, he would have to tread carefully, and use his Searching Skill to its limit. In the Beta, there hadn't been any that were an insta-kill, but given his encounter with the First Floor Boss, that knowledge may be compromised. It was irritatingly slow, but better than tripping and falling down a kilometer-deep pit. That would be an embarrassing way to die.

* * *

He finally stood in front of the massive steel doors of the Boss Room. Kirito dungeon-crawled through the night, speeding up with every room cleared until he was sprinting nearly all the time, throwing caution to the wind. He gained two more levels, and put all ten points into agility, bringing the stat up to 72 points. He would need it to rush through the room.

Pushing open the door, Kirito immediately broke into a sprint. He remembered this room actually had _two_ Bosses; Nato the Colonel Taurus and Asterius the Taurus King. However, Asterius only spawned when Nato, who was much weaker, was nearly defeated. In the Beta, it had served as a tactic to lull the players into a false sense of security, and nobody was expecting a second, more powerful Boss to spawn when the battle was almost won. Many died within the first seconds, as they had been hit by Asterius' paralyzing lightning breath, then beaten down by both Minotaur-like monsters. There were also some who were so distracted by Asterius that they forgot about Nato, and paid for their slip.

Nato also had a paralysis-inducing attack, but that was a slam, and had a much shorter range. So long as Kirito did not engage- which he had no plans of doing in the first place- he would be fine.

The gamer kept moving quickly, but nearly stumbled when, as he was approaching the center of the room, saw that there were two figures spawning. They were about the same size, which confused him, since Asterius had been much bigger than Nato. Taking a moment, Kirito used his close proximity to observe their names. One of them was Nato the Colonel Taurus, as expected, but the other was a surprise; Baron, the General Taurus.

Kirito was stunned for a moment, and simply stared at the extra Boss, before realizing that he was in a dangerous position, just 50 meters away from the both of them. Fortunately, they were still running through their introduction sequences, so he had plenty of time to barrel past them, his 72 agility allowing him to eat up the distance like it was hardly there.

He heard the two bull-men roar, but ignored them. They could be someone else's problem. The boy finally reached the spiral staircase at the back of the Boss Room, and began to climb them two at a time. In moments, he had reached the zenith, and pushed through these doors, shutting them on the enraged bellows of the walking steaks.

Slumping down with a sigh of relief, Kirito leaned against the door for a moment, giving his virtual heart a few seconds to stop hammering in his digital chest. For all the shit Kayaba Akihiko had put them through, nobody could deny that the man's work with the Nerve Gear was absolutely brilliant, and Sword Art Online was the perfect example… If you ignored the whole death trap thing.

Kirito straightened up, and began to make his way to the main village of the Third Floor, Zumfut. It was an odd name, but it wasn't like he chose it, so he didn't really care. He could see the Forest of Wavering Mists, and wondered just how he was going to complete the massive Quest which spanned multiple Floors. Could he go back down without the Teleport Gates? Something to check another time.

Right now, he had some elves to meet.

* * *

 **Stats:**

 **Level- 17**

 **Strength- 47**

 **Agility- 72**

 **Stat Points- 0**

 **Weapon- Anneal Blade +0**

 **Skills:**

 **One-Handed Sword, Level 37**

 **Martial Arts, Level 1**

 **Searching, Level 15**

 **Hiding, Level 2**

* * *

 **Yay, working on this story now. No clue if I'll go hard like I did with some of the other ones, but you'll get what you get, and nothing more :P**

 **K bai :D**


	4. Chapter 4

**November 11th, 2022**

 **0600 JST**

"Music?" Kirito asked, his confusion so great that his voice simply slipped out. He was currently wandering through the Forest of Wavering Mists, scrolling through any and all of the available menus to stave off boredom. He had already organized his inventory, read the effects and bonuses of his current equipment (which were basically non-existent, because he hadn't upgraded them them since the first floor), and even calculated how much damage he could do in random scenarios. Now, he was looking at the Game Settings.

Some of them were interesting. For example, the Visual Options of Grayscale and Inverted Colors. The bright orange sky had given him odd chills, though, so he had switched them back to normal. The Audio Options were what got to him.

A specific setting, which seemed much different from the others, was simply called _Music Player_. Did that mean…?

Kirito clicked, and jumped backwards when the Settings screen exploded into a massive list, with an incredibly small scroll bar, indicating that there was much, _much_ more. Luckily, there was a search bar at the top, or this would take forever. To start with, Kirito typed in his all-time favorite, the opening to an awesome anime he had watched when he was a kid. In milliseconds, the screen shifted, and the song name was highlighted. Clicking it, Kirito was even more surprised when music player controls popped up, with the play/pause button and the skip buttons. Pressing play, he was beyond ecstatic as drums began to roll in his ears. Was it directed right into his brain, or was the sound emanating from somewhere? Probably the former, but right now, he didn't care.

Kirito dropped to the dirt ground, crossed his legs, and set to work creating a gargantuan playlist.

* * *

It took at least two hours, but Kirito had finally added all the songs he could remember from his phone playlist. This thing even had the remixes for every song, so he was left wanting for nothing.

With music droning in his ears, Kirito rose to his feet at last, and once more began to make his way through the massive forest. If he remembered correctly, then the Elf War Quest started with a Random Encounter, so there was no set path to the two fighting elves.

Coincidentally, as soon as he thought that, he heard the sharp clashing of metal and loud war cries somewhere nearby, managing to bypass the Music Player. It wasn't that loud, but still. He was conflicted about finding his objective so soon; slightly annoyed he had to turn off the Music Player without even finishing a single song, and pleased that he wouldn't have to waste time.

Making his way to the sound, he found exactly what he was looking for; two figures, one clad in a midnight purple cloak and the other in a forest green, locked in a deadly duel. Last time, Kirito had helped the purple figure, so he figured there was no harm doing the same thing this time around. He had been pretty happy with the end reward, too, so more reason not to change it.

Kirito rushed in and drop-kicked the green-clad figure, sending them to the ground hard. He then turned to the elf in purple, who had frozen, staring at him warily. He waved cheekily.

"So, need any help?" Kirito asked, not really feeling like being rude. He had spent a lot of time with this elf in the Beta, so he was more inclined to be pleasant with her. Plus, she had seemed far more… Independent, than other NPCs, so much so that she was almost like another player. It would feel weird to be callous to her.

Kizmel, the Dark Elf, nodded wordlessly. With a returning nod, Kirito unsheathed his Anneal Blade- which he _really_ needed to fix at a blacksmith's- and swiped it across the downed Forest Elf's throat, separating his head from his body. WIth a flourishing flick, he slid the sword back into its scabbard, then unequipped it. Seriously, at this rate, it would break. He would just have to make due with his hands. At least his Martial Arts Skill would get some much needed levels.

"So…" Kirito began awkwardly after a long moment of silence, "What's your name?"

"I believe you already know the answer to that, Kirito-san."

He stared at her, jaw about to hit the ground.

"What."

* * *

"What."

"Do you need me to repeat myself, Kirito-san?" Kizmel asked, voice not betraying any irritation she may have felt. That was another thing about her that unnerved Kirito; her seeming lack of emotion.

"N-no. I'm just… Having a bit of a hard time wrapping my head around this, is all."

"Understandable. According to what you have said, my memories of our previous encounter should not exist at all, and yet… Here they are. And here you are, helping me once more. Although, I fear our tasks may not be the same this time around. Whereas before, we were fighting against the Forest Elf Queendom, we are now doing our best to quell a rebellion from them."

"When you say _rebellion_ , do you mean that…?"

"That we have successfully defeated and subjugated the Forest Elves while you were gone? Yes, we have done exactly that."

"Well that's… Good, I guess? I don't really know how to feel about that, 'cause on one hand, the people I spent my time and energy didn't lose, but on the other, slavery, which humans kinda don't like."

"Slaves? Oh, no, nothing of the sort. That would be positively barbaric. We allow them to have their own local governments, but any matters regarding their state are the business of the Dark Elf Queen. Speaking of which, we must go to her. She will be glad to hear that you are once more offering your assistance."

"Alright, lead the way. And, uh, this is kinda embarrassing, but do you think that she he an extra one of those Queen's Knightswords just lyin' around? Mine got deleted when the official version of Sword Art Online was released…" Kirito mumbled, scratching the back of his head. Luckily, Kizmel's elongated ears weren't just for show, and she heard him.

"You need but ask, Kirito-san. Though, she may be a bit upset."

"I swear, it wasn't my fault! Kayaba didn't want the Beta players to have _too_ much of a head-start, so he _had_ to wipe our inventories!"

Kizmel's back was to him, so he didn't see her amused smile, but he _did_ hear her chuckling.

"Hey, are you just messing with me?"

He received no response.

"Kizmel?"

* * *

"You're mean," Kirito whined. He had just turned fourteen about a month ago, so he was allowed to act like a kid. After all, very few people considered early-teens to be anything other than babies, so may as well use that as an excuse, right?

"I have no idea what you are referring to, Kirito-san," Kizmel said, straight-faced as ever. On the inside, she was quite entertained by the short boys attitude. This was the fierce warrior who had paved the way to victory for the Dark Elf Queendom?

"You know _exactly_ what I'm talking about- you're just being mean," Kirito muttered, crossing his arm in harmless irritation. They had reached Yofel Castle, the residence of Viscount Leyshren Zed Yofilis, and where the Dark Elf Queen Lyusula was currently staying, and were being led to the Queen by a servant. Apparently, the Queen's castle had been compromised, with some of the Dark Elves turning traitor and either allowing Forest Elves in, or attempting to assassinate the Queen themselves. Any found guilty of treason were publicly executed, but that didn't stop more of them from coming. This rebellion was starting to sound a lot more serious than it did when Kizmel first mentioned it.

"By the way, Kizmel, I don't remember what I'm supposed to say when I go in there. Isn't there some formal greeting or something?" Kirito asked. He had forgotten because it simply didn't seem that important then. Now, he was slightly regretting his decision. Oh well- if it came down to it, he would just bullshit his way through then claim cultural differences.

It didn't help that Kizmel once more conveniently became mute, and simply pushed open the ornate gold doors to the room where the Queen was holding her temporary Court.

"Kizmel!" he hissed, but the elf just kept moving, not even glancing backwards. He swore vengeance, before smoothing his face and following her as gracefully as he could. For now, he would just emulate her.

Kizmel stopped about a half-dozen meters in front of Queen Lyusula's, then bent 90 degrees at the waist, one arm crossed over her chest, with the other behind her back. Kirito stood a bit behind her, and copied the action. She then straightened up and held up two fingers on her left hand, then opened her mouth.

Out poured a series of syllables that Kirito could scarcely hope to keep up with, much less memorize and repeat. When it came his turn, he held up two fingers, and froze.

"U-um… Hi?"

* * *

"Stop laughing!" Kirito cried, pointing an accusing finger at Kizmel, who was currently on the floor of their shared room (elves weren't very big on the human concept of modesty, apparently), so uncomposed he almost couldn't believe they were the same person. Unfortunately, they were, which made it all the worse.

"I- I _can't_! You looked like such an _idiot_!" Kizmel managed to choke out. " _Hi?_ That's the best you could come up with? Ha!"

"Well, maybe if you didn't switch to an _entirely different fucking language_ -!"

"Okay, okay," Kizmel said, finally climbing to her feet. "I'll admit, that was a bit cruel-"

"A _bit!?"_

"-But nothing terrible happened. It was just some harmless fun."

"Of course you would say that- the Queen wasn't laughing at _you_!"

"Alright, Kirito-san." Kizmel walked over, wrapping the boy in a hug and resting her head on his. "I'm sorry. Will you forgive me?"

"Depends." His arms were still crossed, refusing to return the hug. He was enjoying her sweet, fruity scent however. "Can you get me another of the Queen's Knightswords? Also, since it's a _Knight_ sword, doesn't that mean I'm a Knight of the Lyusulan Queendom? So do I get one of those cool rings?"

The ring in question was one which healed the user of any and all status effects, with a five-minute cooldown.

"I will see what I can do in regards to your status in the Queendom. I suspect the Queen will not be particularly averse to knighting you, and you will definitely get your sword. There are quite a few extras in the armory, and I doubt anyone would notice if one were to simply go missing," she said smiling at his petulant attitude.

Kirito sniffed haughtily. "Then, I _suppose_ you can be forgiven. Just this once." He turned an wrapped his arms around the Dark Elf, utilizing his superior strength stat to squeeze her to the point of discomfort. He pointedly ignored the soft spheres which wrapped around his neck and lower jaw.

Kizmel squeaked at the sudden pain, and Kirito laughed. She playfully scowled at him, then stood on her tiptoes, causing her breasts to suffocate the now-panicking boy.

Kirito didn't exactly _want_ die, but he figured that there could be worse ways.

* * *

 **Kirito is fourteen at the beginning in canon, so he hasn't quite yet hit the part of puberty where he grows like a beanstalk, so he'll be short. I don't know how tall Kizmel is. According to myths, they're all either super tall or super short, so I just went in between. She's a bit on the short side for humans, but still at a respectable height.**

 **Also, he isn't quite so caught up in hormones. I don't really know how puberty works, even if I went through it, so I don't quite know when the hormones kick in. Maybe he's a late bloomer, if it's early?**

 **As for why Kizmel is so human, I figured, Fuck it, I do what I want. So, yeah, plot-device. That's all the explanation you're getting :P**

 **K bai :D**


	5. Chapter 5

A swift jab, followed by a vicious hook, then lash out with a quick kick to create some distance.

Take a breath.

Dive back in.

Use the momentum to strike hard, with the mother of all haymakers. While they're staggered, push on with an uppercut to the jaw. The neck's exposed now- a quick chop sends their head snapping back down, bringing it right into the path of a speedy straight. They stumble back.

Don't let up!

Rush forward, grab onto the front of whatever they're wearing- or their fur, if that's all that's available- while their balance is off, and drag them in a circle. Let go, and watch them fly, falling onto their back.

They're vulnerable now!

Jump on them, feet planted right in the middle of their stomach. They're winded, hardly able to fight back now. Drop down, pinning their hands with your knees, and rain hell upon their face. One, two, three- three punches, and the whole thing's over.

* * *

 **November 15th, 2022**

 **0730 JST**

Kirito exhaled heavily when the Forest Elf shattered into a thousand rainbow polygons, which dissipated with the wind. He pushed himself off his knees, then onto his feet.

He glanced over at his partner, whose eyes were slightly wide.

"What?" he asked, curious. Kizmel just shook her head, and he dropped the topic, sending them back into silence.

In her head, however, Kizmel was a bit shaken up. His Martial Arts Skill needed leveling up, sure, but did he have to be so _brutal_ about it? She was no stranger to killing fellow Elves, whether they be of the Forest or the Dark, but that what with swords. It tended to be much more impersonal with a blade in hand, so Kizmel never really had to think about it. However, watching Kirito's… _Eagerness,_ to crack their skulls was disturbing, especially from someone so young.

They had just finished off a small party of Forest Elves, who some scouts had found snooping around Yofel Castle. Queen Lyusula decided that Kirito needed to prove he was still in-shape, so she requested that he do it. The boy had taken this as the chance to release the pent-up anger at being laughed at the other day (which was still strong after 96 hours, and renewed with every remembrance), and he did so quite violently. There were 4 Forest Elves, and he had taken them all down with just his bare hands. He had asked Kizmel to sit this one, and she somewhat regretted listening. Maybe then she would have been too distracted to watch that massacre, like all the other times?

They walked back to castle, quiet for a while, until Kizmel finally opened her mouth.

"Kirito-san, was all of that truly… Necessary?"

He glanced back at her. "What, killing them all? Yeah, it's kinda what the Queen asked us to do…"

"Not that. I meant… Did you _need_ to be so… Vicious?" Kizmel said slowly, searching for the right words.

Kirito simply shrugged. "Well, probably not, but it was a lot of fun." Kizmel froze at the admittance, causing Kirito to stop as well. He took a step closer to her. "Does that make you uncomfortable?"

Kizmel remained silent for a moment, before nodding. Kirito stared at her, then sighed.

"I guess I can avoid doing stuff like that when you're around. It's a good thing I grind so much, otherwise I would go crazy from boredom."

"When do you go out? We are together for much of the day, and I don't seem to recall..."

"Oh, i go whenever you're sleeping." Kirito did not seem at all worried about that statement.

"Every night!?" Kizmel cried, startling the boy.

"Um, yeah? What else am I gonna do, watch you sleep? That's creepy!"

"Kirito-san…" Kizmel said, fearful to ask this question, but also incredibly concerned, "When, exactly, was the last time you slept?"

The boy blinked, then tilted his head to the side. He raised a finger and opened his mouth, as if to answer, but froze. Finally, he opened his Game Menu- an action which still surprised Kizmel- and consulted the world clock.

"Uh, last week, I think?"

Kizmel could not even work up the righteous rage to shout at him, the confession leaving her weak from shock. Then, she remembered something else, perhaps equally horrible. She had never seen the boy consume even a loaf of bread, despite him always being present at the dinner table.

"When was the last time you ate?"

"...I haven't eaten since this game started, which was… Nine days ago."

"How…?" Kizmel muttered, prompting Kirito to come closer, since he couldn't hear her properly. "How are you still _standing_!?" she shouted suddenly, startling the gamer and making him jump backwards.

"What do you mean?"

"It's not _possible_ to go for seven whole days without eating or sleeping! Any other being would have dropped dead from exhaustion, but here you are, fighting in the field like nothing's wrong…!" she cried, voice strangled by worry.

"Hey, hey, relax!" Kirito said, stepping forward and clasping Kizmel's arm. "There's nothing wrong- seriously, I feel _fine_."

"How could you _possibly_ be fine!?"

"Remember what I said about this originally being a game for me?"

Kizmel nodded, panic subsiding to be replaced by confusion.

"This isn't my real body. It's the one that was made to allow me access to this world; It's a fake, and it doesn't need to sleep or eat."

Kizmel's eyes widened. He hadn't ever explained that before, so it came as a complete surprise.

"If this body is not real… Then are you also-?"

"No, my mind is real. Everything we've done is real. We're still friends, Kizmel. I just… Happen to be less needy," Kirito said, attempting to soothe the Dark Elf. They had grown close over these last few days, and it seemed he had latched onto her as the only source of human interaction he'd had in a while (including his time in the real world). He was astounded to see her getting this emotional, and was somewhat touched that it was out of concern for him, misplaced though it may be.

Kizmel swallowed heavily, then dragged the boy into a hug, attempting to squeeze the life out of him. She had the strangest urge to hold on tight to him, as if the closer she got to this apparently-fake body, the closer she would be to the actual Kirito-san.

"Well, if I have so many needs, then perhaps you would be willing to help me with some of them?"

Kirito was halfway through nodding his head, before his eyes narrowed. "That sounded incredibly suggestive."

Kizmel finally cracked a smile, though it was quite small. "Nothing like that- not yet, at least."

* * *

"Eat," Kizmel commanded, pushing a platter of meat, bread, and vegetables in front of Kirito. The boy blinked at her, glanced at the tray, then looked back at her.

"What?" he asked dumbly, completely uncomprehensive. They were sitting at the dinner table, like usual, accompanied by the rest of the current inhabitants of Yofel Castle, including the Queen and her entourage.

"Eat. You said you would help me with my needs, correct?" Kizmel said, reminding him of their earlier conversation. But he had never agreed to anything…

"Wait-" he attempted to say, but was cut off by the Dark Elf.

"Well, I _need_ to see you eat to have peace of mind."

"But-"

"A perturbed mind may throw off a warrior's focus in battle, resulting in them making a fatal mistake- therefore, a stable mental state is completely necessary."

Man, she was ruthless. With no other choice, Kirito picked up an unassuming piece of bread, and began to nibble on it. Kizmel's stare was attempting to burn a hole through him, and he ducked his head to avoid. Unfortunately, it was not that simple.

"Kirito-san," Kizmel said clearly, quite obviously faking the calm he heard. He chanced a glance up, and regretted his decision in an instant; the glint in her eye promised pain if he didn't comply. Kirito wondered if now was a good time to tell her that SAO Avatars don't feel pain.

Rather than voice that thought, the gamer began to eat more vigorously, hoping to keep his mouth full so that his body didn't suddenly become rebellious and spew that thought. When that loaf of bread was done, he picked up a fork and speared a steak, cutting it up then plopping the pieces in his mouth. When he finally finished the meat, he noticed that people were beginning to leave the table, so he pushed his plate away from him and stood up.

"I think dinner's over, so I'm gonna go do… Stuff." He stared at Kizmel for a long while, and her lack of an answer unnerved him enough that he decided to just take his chances and flee while he still had the chance. The instance he turned his back, however, his hopes were shattered like glass.

"Kirito-san?"

Against his better judgement- or perhaps because of it, since ignoring Kizmel would probably not end well (not that this would end well either way)- he turned around and faced the Dark Elf. Her arms were crossed underneath her chest, and she was drumming her fingers on her upper-arm. All in all, she did _not_ look happy.

"Y-yes?" he asked weakly, hoping against hope that she would ask him something mundane. That dream was also crushed.

"It is getting quite late, and I believe that we should return to our room for the night. After all, we have a long day tomorrow, and a tired warrior is an ineffective one."

"O-oh, really? Well, I guess I'll see you in the morning."

She was not impressed by his attempt to weasel his way out of there.

"Kirito-san, you will be coming with me."

"FIne," he muttered, shoulders slumping in defeat.

* * *

"Well, good night Kizmel," Kirito called to his roommate. He had no intention of sleeping, but figured it would be better to at least fake it until the elf was unconscious. Then, he could slip out, and only lose a few minutes rather than a few hours. Things did not go according to plan. At all.

The bed he was lying on lurched to the side slightly, indicating that there was a weight there, meaning Kizmel was now sitting on his bed. He refused to turn, just in case Kizmel thought he was actually asleep and left him alone. He did not expect her to lift the covers, and he _definitely_ did not expect her to slide under them next him.

"I know that you are not asleep yet, Kirito-san," she whispered in his ear. She was so close that her breath tickled him, and her rather large breasts were pressed against his back. Knowing the jig was up, Kirito turned to her, and was reminded that Dark Elves did not have the same sense of modesty as humans.

"K-Kizmel! Where are your- your clothes!?" he choked out, frozen in shock.

She was either oblivious, or uncaring, of his discomfort. Likely the latter. "What do you mean, Kirito-san? This is how I normally sleep."

"O-ok, but what happened to no suggestive things!?" he asked, reminding her of their conversation earlier in the day.

"I am simply making sure you do not attempt to fool me, Kirito-san. We will not be doing anything other than sleeping," Kizmel said, though the words were betrayed by her shifting so that her face was closer to his.

"There's no way I can sleep like _this_!" Kirito whimpered. At this point, he could hardly twitch without making their lips connect, so he stayed perfectly still.

"I'm sure I can help with that." Did she just purr?

That thought, along with all others, were blown out of his mind when Kizmel tugged him forwards, slamming his head against her collarbone, face barely above her breasts. If he moved at all, he would end up touching her inappropriately, so he once more stayed still. Unbeknownst to him, Kizmel had fallen asleep with a small smile on her face.

He was in for a _long_ night.

* * *

 **Yay, bed-sharing for the win. A bit (a lot) quick, but I'm just gonna fall back on the excuse that elves either don't care about human modesty, or are much more direct with what they want.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Stats (since I forgot for the last two chapters):**

 **Level- 25 (it's been 7 in-story days since chapter 3, but he hasn't gone up a floor, so he'll temp softcap at some point.)**

 **Strength- 75**

 **Agility- 100**

 **Stat Points- 0**

 **Weapon- Anneal Blade +0**

 **Skills:**

 **One-Handed Sword, Level 38**

 **Martial Arts, Level 20**

 **Searching, Level 30**

 **Hiding, Level 3**

 **Acrobatics (unlocked at 100 Agility), Level 5**

* * *

 **November 16th, 2022**

 **0800 JST**

 **Yofel Castle**

"Kirito-san, wake up."

He was being shaken, but he didn't really feel like moving. He was way too drowsy, and instead did the opposite of what he was being asked, burrowing further into his pillow. These pillows were really smooth, for some reason… Whatever. They were still pretty soft, and he wanted to sleep.

Kizmel smiled softly, silently marveling at how innocent the boy looked, despite how he clung to her, face buried in her breasts. Though, that was probably her fault, considering how she had basically shoved his head there last night. She wasn't exactly complaining, however.

Still, she was surprised that the boy had managed to fall asleep at all, though was pleased that her plan worked. He was unable to worm his way out of her tight grip, despite his superior strength, so he had no choice but to stay put. However, even then he could have simply stayed awake. It was quite lucky that he didn't. Or, perhaps, couldn't.

After all, one could only fake something for so long before it became reality, right? He hadn't slept for a week, so his body… Mind, may have been trying to make up for it all at once.

Despite what she thought, however, Kirito began to stir soon afterwards. He groaned, squeezing the Dark Elf tightly for a moment, then let go and stretched, releasing a shrieking yawn. He smacked his lips together a few times, then let out a sigh of relief. Finally, Kirito opened his eyes slowly, trying to adjust to the sunlight streaming in through the partially-covered window. He sat up, glancing around the room in an attempt to regain his bearings. Once the fog seemingly cleared from his mind, his face scrunched up in confusion.

"Was I…?" he muttered to the air, somehow not noticing Kizmel right next to him.

"Sleeping?" she finished for him, "Yes you were, Kirito-san. I must say, I didn't expect you to be such a cuddler." She was teasing him now, but just the sound of her voice caused the boy to freeze violently. His head slowly- incredibly slowly- rotated, so that he was looking at her, his black eyes locking onto her own purple ones. They stared for a while, before Kirito snapped out of his momentary trance. For just a split-second, his gaze flicked downward, and then immediately snapped back up, but Kizmel had seen it. Her smile grew.

A blush rose to the boy's face, which was screwed up in a mix of irritation and panic. He settled for a thin veneer of calm.

"You're insane…" he muttered, though the Dark Elf's sharp hearing caught the words easily enough.

"Yes, and you seemed to be enjoying yourself. Did you like using me as a pillow?"

"Yes."

Kizmel's eyes widened. She hadn't expected that answer, and especially not so quickly. It appeared this boy was not as innocent as he looked while he was asleep.

"Ha!" Kirito crowed, taking victory in her shock. Kizmel's eyes narrowed in return, and a predatory grin spread across her face.

"Oh, Kirito-san~," she moaned, pushing herself up so that the covers slipped off her bare body, revealing her ample bosom. Kirito, in an impressive show of restraint, kept his eyes away from her general direction, answering with a noncommital hum.

"If you liked that so much, then I know of a few things that you will simply _love_ ," she purred. This time she succeeded in making the boy's cheeks turn violently red, and he turned so that his back was to the temptress.

"Alright, you can stop now! D-Didn't you say yesterday that we had stuff to do today!?" "Oh, I did. But, when did I ever specify what was so important?"

Kirito attempted to answer, only to draw a blank.

"So, what if I were to say that _this_ was important?" Kizmel asked. She was not going to let this go.

"I-I would say that your priorities are fucked up and I'm outta here! Bye!" Kirito yelled, hopping up from the bed and sprinting out the room, putting his triple-digits Agility to good use.

Kizmel scarcely had time to comprehend what had happened before the boy was long gone, but when her mind caught up, she smiled. It proved to be a bit of a challenge getting to that boy, but the results were well worth it.

* * *

Kirito was extremely excited right now. Kizmel had kept her promise and talked to the Queen, and now he was the proud owner of a Queen's Knightsword, as well as a Ring of Cleansing. This was so awesome! The sword had originally been obtained on Floor 9 of the Beta, since that was where the final Quest of the Elf War Campaign was (as well as Lyusula Castle), and had been the strongest sword in the game at the time. The Beta players had only gotten to Floor 10, so he didn't know how long it would last, but to get it so early in the game… It had a base damage of 5,000!

The amount of damage the sword did was calculated like so: **(Base Damage) + (Number of Sharpness Upgrades x 5)% + (Strength Stat x 2) + (One-Handed Sword Skill Level x 5)**

For Kirito with the Queen's Knightsword, that would be: **(5,000) + (0 x 5)% + (75 x 2) + (38 x 5)= 5,340**

It was kinda pathetic that the base damage of the sword was what made up the majority of that number, but it was still incredible. He would probably be able to one-hit most monsters now, and if he got some Sharpness upgrades… Speaking of which, the Queen's Knightsword had an astounding enhance max of 20. He would probably do 15 Sharpness and 5 Durability.

Accuracy was worthless, since you would have to be pretty bad to completely miss the opponent, which Kirito wasn't. Quickness was out- his emphasis on his Agility Stat covered that. Heaviness was… Weird. It did as the name implied, making the sword heavier, which made it harder to swing, and required more Strength to wield properly. However, it also meant that monsters without a sufficiently high Strength Stat would be unable to Parry or Stun you, so it had its benefits. Not that Kirito cared, because he still didn't use it.

He had only made the concession for the 5 Durability because he didn't want to end up with the same problem he had had for the past week; unable to use his Anneal Blade for fear of shattering it. He was surprised the sword had lasted as long as it had, however. Maybe he could repair it, then use it as a backup sword if the the Queen's Knightsword was ever low on Durability, then skip out on the Durability upgrades? Or maybe…

"Hey, Kizmel, where'd you get this sword, anyway?" Kirito asked his partner, who was sitting across from him at the breakfast table. She had just handed him the sword and ring, and watched in amusement as he fawned over the former. Sure, the ring was cool, and definitely useful, but at the moment, very few mobs could inflict Status Effects, so…

"In the armory. There are quite a few extra- I only had to ask the Queen to ensure she would be fine with me giving it to you, since you are technically an outsider, as well as to acquire the ring. Why?" She became a bit wary when she saw the glimmer in his eyes.

"I was thinking, if I got another one, then I wouldn't have to worry about this sword breaking in the middle of battle, because I'll have a backup. I think it's pretty necessary- and wouldn't it put your mind at ease, knowing that I'm even less likely to be endangered because of being unprepared?"

Kizmel sighed. The boy was using her own words against her now. It wasn't like there was any issue with him getting another sword, but it was just in the way he chose to do so that irritated the Dark Elf slightly.

"Well, I suppose I can show you the way to the armory. However, you are only allowed to grab another sword," she said, standing up and pushing in the chair.

"Yay!" Kirito cried, shooting up and around the table to crush Kizmel in a hug. She returned it after a moment of surprise, startled at how quickly how he had moved.

When he smiled up at her so innocently, her irritation could be forgotten. For the moment. Revenge would definitely come later.

* * *

He had _another_ Queen's Knightsword now! This was amazing! He was unbeatable! A god amongst gamers! Well, he just happened to have access to better items, but this was still an MMO, where numbers were everything. It wasn't _his_ fault nobody had figured out his little exploit back in the Beta, and they definitely would be too scared to try it now.

He definitely had to visit a blacksmith now, at least to see what materials were required to upgrade his swords. Probably a good idea to go to Zumfut, and then maybe get back to climbing the Floors. Aincrad wasn't going to conquer itself.

"Hey, Kizmel, what are we still doing here?" he asked the Dark Elf. She, thankfully, seemed to understand that he meant Yofel Castle, rather than just the armory.

"Well, the Queen has yet to assign us a mission aside from patrolling the woods and taking out any groups of Forest Elf Scouts we come across. You may leave, if you wish, since you are an Honorary Knight, and therefore not tied to Her Majesty's will, but as for me…" she trailed off, getting quieter the longer she spoke. Kirito blinked. He had not expected her to sound so sad, but he wouldn't deny that the thought of being separated from his only friend hurt him a bit, too.

"Well… Why don't we ask her?"

It was Kizmel's turn to blink in surprise. "Ask the Queen what?"

"To leave. Think of it as… Taking a vacation. Well, we probably won't actually be relaxing, so maybe an adventure?"

"I doubt she will grant me permission. She is rather reluctant to let any of her knights leave, and especially now, with the Forest Elf Rebellion… It won't work," Kizmel said, shaking her head sadly.

"So we're gonna have to take care of that first, huh…? Alright, then where are most of the Forest Elves?"

"I would think they are situated somewhere near, or possibly _in_ , the Caste of Lyusula. The Queen has been down here in the Forest of Wavering Mists for quite some time, and messengers rarely return, so it is possible that much has changed. We will have to send scouts out to determine that... Even if we _do_ find them, what are you planning to do, Kirito-san?"

Kirito was about to respond, when a sharp noise interrupted him. A system message popped up in front of him.

Ping!

 _New Quest Available! Retake Lyusula Castle from the Forest Elves?_

 _Reward: 10,000XP, ?_

"Well, I think I know where we can find them now. As for what I plan to do… Well, isn't that obvious?"

He accepted the Quest.

"I'm going to kill them all."

* * *

 **Stats haven't changed from what I posted at the top, since there was no fighting. That will go back to being at the bottom of the page net chapter**

 **This may seem like filler, but I managed to plug in a few plot points that'll move things forward. Don't be too annoyed.**

 **You may have noticed that, under the date and time, I've included the location. I'll be doing that from now, since I plan to have large time skips, in which Kirito continues to move forward. Think like how they did it in the anime.**

 **Is anyone uncomfortable with the idea of Kirito x Kizmel, giving the former's age? He's basically a kid, barely through puberty, so it's kinda illegal, isn't it? Sure, this is Fanfiction, and I may not have the strongest moral compass, but even so, I'm unsure how to continue the relationship aspect of this story. Cut out Kizmel somehow and make Kirito continue the game how he was meant to play in this story; Solo? Or keep them together, with the title Solo referring to the lack of players around him? Some food for thought :P**

 **K, bai :D**


End file.
